Loss-hit MANMUL's massive recruitment drive raises eyebrows

Mandya: Mandya District Co-operative Milk Producers Society's Union Limited (MANMUL) is a lifeline for thousands of families in the district who have taken up dairy farming for a livelihood. MANMUL comes under the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) which is a trusted milk producers' cooperative society for decades.

But the milk adulteration scam that was unearthed in MANMUL in June last year came as a shock for the farmers in the district. The scam was engineered by milk transporters of the society itself. State

government has taken the issue seriously and ordered a probe by CID.

Now, it is alleged that the management has hurriedly started the process recruiting employees for 187 vacant posts in spite of the fact that the union is running under heavy losses.

Farmers' leaders are questioning the massive recruitment drive taken up by the milk producers' society at a time when investigation into the adulteration scam is being conducted. What raises the eyebrows is the need for recruitment of so many people when the society already employs 350 regular staff and 1,250 outsourced employees who have been working for years and have considerable experience. It's feared that if MANMUL goes ahead and recruits fresh staff, it may cause job loss for outsourced employees besides burdening the organisation which is already in losses, with an additional salary bill to the tune of Rs 12 crore.

Though it is said to be paying less price to farmers for procuring milk compared to those in other districts, losses continue to haunt the society. Farmers question the rationality of paying less milk procurement price to suppliers and go for such a massive recruitment drive.

Keeping all these things into account, the State government is likely to take over the reins of the beleaguered MANMUL and set the house in order, according to leaders of farmers.

On its part, the MANMUL management maintains that it essential to recruit new employees as workload is heavy on the existing staff in the mega dairy. This claim runs contrary to the previous management's assertion at the time of launching the dairy cooperative society in 2016, that it would reduce dependence on workers as it is fully automated with the latest technology. They even claimed that the profit would increase and the same would be distributed to farmers. In 2019 the management issued a notification for appointment of 100 staff. But Janata Dal (Secular) leader H D Kumara Swamy who was the chief minister at that time, cancelled the appointment notification after complaint from the farmers welfare committee.

Speaking to The Hans India on Friday, committee secretary Sunanda Jayaram said that MANMUL runs without hassles even without recruitment of additional staff. But the management cites losses whenever farmers demanded a hike in milk procurement price. How are they going to pay salaries to so many new recruits if it's incurring losses?, she asked and warned of agitation throughout the district if the society does not rollback the appointment process.

Another farmers' leader Induvalu Chandrashekar said that thousands

of youths have applied for jobs. "Everybody is speaking about a huge price tag for each post. This proves that the recruitment process smacks of corruption and appointments would not be held in transparent manner," he alleged.

A MANMUL employee on condition of anonymity said that the management gave promotions to senior officers in return for bribes.

But MANMUL president B M Ramachandra denied the allegations and said that the government gave approval to appoint 520 to fill the vacancies that arose following retirement of 270 employees. He said contract workers are not sufficient to run the dairy. "We need permanent employees to check irregularities. The appointment process is being conducted in accordance with rules."